


the wrong move

by Lire_Casander



Series: in this broken beautiful mess [3]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Based on Personal Experiences, Everyone's fine, Fluff, Humor, M/M, TK Is Accident Prone, hurt character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:07:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: bonding with his teammates shouldn’t be this stressful
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: in this broken beautiful mess [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989202
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	the wrong move

**Author's Note:**

  * For [terramous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/terramous/gifts).



> beta’ed by [meloingly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloingly/pseuds/meloingly). any remaining mistakes are my own
> 
> title from _astoria_ by marianas trench
> 
> written for [tk strand week 2020](https://tkstrandweek.tumblr.com/post/623797377206255616/welcome-to-tk-strand-week-2020-please-join-us-in), **_day 3: “i can’t believe you dragged me into this” + friendship + favorite hoodie_**
> 
> written for [max](https://archiveofourown.org/users/terramous) who asked for **_ambulance ride_** from my [bad things happen bingo card](https://lire-casander.tumblr.com/post/626174763915722752/welcome-to-my-very-own-bad-things-happen-bingo)

“I can't believe you dragged me into this,” TK mumbles, shaking his head as he tries to take a step backward when they reach the entrance. He manages to resist a grand total of ten seconds before Mateo grabs his arm excitedly and pulls him close to him. “Mateo,” he whines, but it's to no avail. 

Mateo keeps ignoring him even as he forces TK to tail after Marjan and Paul, Judd closing their tight formation. TK looks over his shoulder to see if Judd is still fidgeting like he has been doing for the whole ride here, but he's faced with a Judd Ryder who's currently smiling at the decorations of the halls — a couch covered in glitter and a few prop elements scattered in what surely was aimed to be an artsy fashion and it's only picking on TKʼs nerves. 

“I can't believe I lost you too, Judd!” TK complains. “You’re supposed to have my back!” 

The older man shrugs noncommittally. TK sighs, accepting his defeat and dragging his feet across the floor as they reach the reception. A young woman — in her mid-twenties, blonde and blue-eyed, smile in place — greets them. Her name tag reads _Carla_ ; TK thinks that it's a sign, that maybe his luck has changed. 

“Welcome to Project Panic,” she chirps. “Do you have a reservation?” 

“Yeah,” Marjan replies with a broad smile. “It’s a double,” she explains. “Weʼre two teams competing with each other.” 

“Weʼre here!” Michelle calls from the door. “Sorry weʼre late, _someone_ was busy with skin routine.” 

TK turns in time to see his father elbowing Michelle playfully as he walks inside along with Tim, Nancy and Carlos. He smiles at his boyfriend. 

“Hey!” Owen protests. “This sex appeal needs some work!” 

The receptionist — Carla — snickers before focusing once again on Marjan. “I take it you're booked under Marwani, two groups for Cabin Fever, am I right?” 

Marjan nods. Mateo is already almost squealing when he sees Carla stepping around the reception and handing out two different plastic cards. 

“These are your cards,” she explains. “Theyʼll grant you access to our twin Cabin Fever rooms at exactly the same time, and you will have sixty minutes to complete the quest. Have you all played an escape room before?” 

TK nods stiffly while the rest of the crew show their excitement. They have taken part in these kinds of games before — theyʼve shared their experiences when the idea first sparked at the firehouse, to have them all competing in a healthy environment to build up some more team spirit. It had been Michelleʼs idea to ask Carlos to join them when they had realized they needed another member for one of the teams instead of allowing TK to sit out on this adventure. 

It's not that he doesn’t like spending time with his fire family; in fact, he _loves_ teasing Marjan and ganging up on Judd with Paul and sharing words of wisdom with Mateo. He loves learning about medical stuff with Michelle and joking around with Tim and Nancy. He just isn’t a fan of escape rooms, and both his father and his boyfriend know that. 

TK follows everyone further into the building, his feet dragging on the floor as he tries to slow down the motions enough for him not to enter in time, his fingers playing with the strings of his favorite hoodie — the pale yellow one with sleeves so long that they cover his hands. But Michelle pushes him forward and Marjan links her arm on his, so he doesn’t miss a step and before he knows better heʼs standing in front of a brown door with Paul at his right and Mateo behind him, sandwiching him in such a way that he canʼt escape. 

Which is _fucking_ ironic. 

It's not that he isn’t clever — he knows he has wit. But there's something about the stress of being trapped in a locked room with only clues to get them out that irks him. He’s used to working under duress — heʼs a first responder who started his career in New York of all places, the land of the highest skyscrapers and the weirdest calls. He’s not used to solving puzzles on a click, though. 

He pays only half a mind to Carla, and nods absent-mindedly when he sees her waving them off into the twin rooms. He feels the panic building up in his chest, growing until it's constricting his lungs and he canʼt breathe. He’s never thought heʼd be claustrophobic, but maybe it's time to start rethinking some details of his own existence. 

Like the fact that heʼs surrounded by his teammates, inside a locked zulo decorated like the lake cabin his father took him every summer from the year he turned seven until the summer he was thirteen. There’s a bookshelf that looks suspicious propped against the furthest wall, and a few scattered items that he would have never guessed belonged in a cabin. 

There’s a huge digital clock on top of the bookshelf ticking away the seconds until heʼs freed either way. That's the only thing he knows for sure —that heʼs going out whether they solve the puzzles or not. 

“Cʼmon, TK, move!” Mateo exclaims, moving around in sync with Marjan while Paul and Judd search among the half-opened suitcases on the floor. “We have to find the first clue!” 

TK stares at them stunned. It's not that he canʼt follow them — it's that he gets confused when there are so many stimuli going on at once. And there they are, his fire family. He canʼt let them down but this is going to be a topic to talk about with his therapist in his next session. 

“What are you waiting for?” Marjan urges him. “I thought youʼd be more active in here!” 

He doesn’t think he's getting enough air to breathe. He turns around, looking for something to balance himself, while Paul intervenes. 

“TK, are you alright? I don't think you should—” 

He’s going to die in here, he can feel it. And everyone will laugh at him, and Mateo will always remember him like this scared little boy who wouldn’t even survive an escape room, and his father and Carlos, gosh, Carlos. 

He’s derailed from this train of thought when he turns and loses his balance, reaching out to grope the first thing he can get his hands on — which happens to be the bookshelf. 

TK doesn’t register Paulʼs warnings or Juddʼs cries for help, because he's too busy fighting the furniture that has been upended and it's now falling on him. By the time he can realize whatʼs really happened, heʼs underneath a puddle of rubble and fake books, three different big keys that look like clues for the next steps of the game clinking down on the floor. 

“I found them,” he manages to say from beneath his trap before he winces, a sharp pain spiking through his shoulder. He thinks it could be dislocated. 

He attempts to push at the bookshelf but it doesn’t even budge. He can move his arm, stretching it out tentatively until he can feel his shoulder protesting with a searing pain that almost makes him pass out.

Definitely dislocated. 

“Don't move!” Marjan instructs him. 

TK blinks. He doesn’t know how she’s managed to get closer to him when she was just at the other side of the room. 

“Don't close your eyes, TK,” she informs him. “Youʼve taken quite a blow to the head. You might have a concussion.” 

“ʼm fine,” he slurs. 

“Yeah, you'll be,” Marjan promises him. “But right now, don't fall asleep.” 

But he does, because the rest of the room rapidly becomes a blur and the next thing he knows, heʼs being lifted on a stretcher and wheeled out of the room. TK can see his fatherʼs worried eyes and Carlosʼ biting down his nails as he falls into step with the gurney. TK looks up, but he doesn’t recognize any of the paramedics taking him out of the escape room building. Maybe theyʼre from the 53,but he canʼt be sure. 

“Only one family member on the ambulance,” one of the paramedics says. TK looks at his side to see both his father and Carlos stopping dead in their track, hesitating. 

He groans. “Dad, if it's okay with you, I think I have had enough shame to last me a lifetime. Come?” 

His father arches an eyebrow before snickering, “I think I'll sit out on this one. Enough ambulance rides with you for me. Carlos?” 

“Yes, sir,” Carlos nods, jumping into the vehicle right behind the stretcher. When the doors close, TK lets his head fall back onto the gurney with a dramatic sigh, his left arm over his face. 

“That was—” he says in a low voice, barely a whisper over the sound of the engine roaring to life. “—something. Iʼm sorry I ruined the day,” he says. “But I'll be fine, no need to worry about me.”

The paramedic checking his vitals snorts, making TK drop his arm and shoot him a glare that could have melted the poles. TK purses his lips before he turns to his boyfriend to reassure him that he isn’t going to die from this accident even if he feels as though he’s been run over by a truck. He frowns when he sees Carlos trembling ever so slightly, one hand covering his mouth. And then it hits him — Carlos wasn't biting his nails out of worry, nor is he shaking out of fear. 

Carlos Reyes is laughing at him. 

“Carlos!” he whines. “Iʼve been on the verge of dying!” 

“It was a prop bookshelf, TK,” Carlos tells him, biting down a laugh. “It could hardly be considered a _deathly_ hazard.” 

“I was _attacked_!” 

“By a prop bookshelf that you tore down,” Carlos says slowly, like heʼs talking to a child. The paramedic stifles a laugh. 

“I was having a panic attack!” 

“Iʼve seen your attacks. Your team has seen your attacks. I don't think there’s a single soul in Austin that hasnʼt seen one of your tantrums, dear. _That_ back there was you spiraling because you don't like escape rooms.” 

“I may be claustrophobic,” TK mumbles. 

“Says the man who survived almost drowning in a silo,” the paramedic pipes in. 

“And a bullet hole in his chest,” Carlos points out. “You didn't go so crazy then.” 

“I was unconscious back then, and Marjan said I could have a concussion now. You're being mean.” 

“And you're being a drama queen,” Carlos tells him, winking playfully. “This is barely a scratch.” 

“Are you calling me dramatic?” TK says with a high voice. Carlos chortles out a laugh; he reaches out and grabs TKʼs hand, lacing their fingers together. “Yeah, well,” TK sighs, “I think I am a bit of a drama queen.”

“Yes,” Carlos agrees. “But you're _my_ drama queen.” When TK hums his agreement, Carlos nods, nudging him with their joined hands. “Now rest. This ambulance ride should be short,” he promises. 

TK smiles at his boyfriend, riding along in the ambulance after TK himself has managed to mess up yet another team gather together, and feels heʼs slowly becoming the man heʼs supposed to be, with all the support and love he's feeling. 

TK closed his eyes, the beeping of the machines and the pulse he can feel underneath Carlosʼ palm lulling him to a dreamless sleep while the ambulance skirts across town to the nearest hospital.

**Author's Note:**

> fun facts about writing this fic!
> 
> * although i haven't found an escape room with twin rooms, the [project panic escape rooms](https://projectpanicescaperooms.com/Austin/) has a wonderful cabin fever experience in which i have based this fic
> 
> * this was (not so loosely) based on a personal experience during my first time at an escape room. don't laugh at me, i'm as clumsy as tk is!


End file.
